Striving for the One Voice

The next phase has begun. When the Citizens’ Panel presented its initial report to City Hall on income disparity, it was accepted unanimously. Then a bit of a surprise. Would we continue our work, operating as an independent citizens group and taking the pulse of Londoners? It took us time to consult and determine that, since we were asked to keep up the work, we should honour that request.But what would the theme be for our next round of consultations? The answer quickly became apparent once dissension began to arise between City Council and engaged citizens who had been involved in working with civic politicians for over a decade, developing a workable rapport. Decisions were being reversed that had been developed over years with previous councils. Even worse, a certain disdain was being displayed by some Councillors towards citizens and even city staff. And some citizens were losing their respectful demeanour towards politicians in return. It concerned us.It was then that our decision became easier. What would be the point of engaging citizens if Council itself, or parts of it, refused the results of that exercise? And so for the next six months we’ll be asking a simple set of questions of Londoners about how they feel concerning their relationship with their political representatives and City Hall in general. It’s simple but perhaps with profound implications.And there is a powerful new element to the work of the Panel this time around. The entire public library system in London has opted to fully partner with the us. The reasons should be obvious. Long before any of the groups got started in engagement, the libraries were already deeply involved in such work. But more than that, they have the ability through their extensive networks to bring thousands of Londoners into the process that previously had remained outside of it all. In many ways this is the most exciting part of this entire enterprise for me.Like other communities across Canada, there are numerous engagement activities going on at the same time in London. This is a breath of fresh air, and a sign that citizenship might be staged to make a comeback. In some of the communities certain animosities developed among the various engagement groups. This won’t likely transpire in London, but there will be the naysayers. In fact, some have already made those sentiments known in public formats in a way that only discourages people from being engaged – a sign that we still have a way to go as citizens. We will just have soldier on through these difficulties, knowing that such people believe in London just as much as we do.And so the stage is set. Asked by City Hall to resume our efforts, we will take up their challenge. But in the end it will be about City Hall itself and how political representatives and staff fare in the eyes of their citizens. One of the most exciting things of all is that groups like London’s Urban League, the Community Engagement Task Force, City Symposium, Citizen's Corps, and the exciting ReThink London are in the process of working with citizens to determine the future of our community. Our task as a Panel is to do our best to make sure those choices are respected once they land on the Council table.I’m working with some great people in a great community. Now our job is to elevate citizenship to the level of shared responsibility – a task we embrace with other equally dedicated groups.http://youtu.be/FNI-14zsJ20